Our Hearts, Half a World Away
by StephenMcTowelie
Summary: Companion story to FS: Korea. Chronicles the adventures, struggles and loss of the central characters' families back in the US, particularly the Vargas daughters. Will contain canon characters as well as OCs in at least one branch of the later chapters. Rated T for language and violence. AU OC Chapter 5 complete. Shifting to a different group of characters for a bit.
1. Chapter 1: the World That Was

_Author's note: This is yet another companion story to Falling Skies: Korea detailing the adventures, struggles and loss of the central characters' families back in the US, notably the Vargas daughters. Initially I didn't want to make a bunch of separate stories branching off from my main one so I can keep the whole continuum in one place (this was going to be another sequence of chapters within the main story) but it's getting to where FS: Korea has so many diverging plotlines going on (i.e. the crew of the Nevada, the fighter pilots etc.) that it's hard to stay on top of them when I get a chance to write. May end up moving this back into FS: Korea if it appears that it wouldn't slow down the story progression too much. Let me know what you think, any and all feedback is welcome._

Chapter I: The World That Was, The World That Is

They came in silence. For a whole month they watched us from their ships in orbit around our moon. They listed to our phone calls, our television shows, read our entire internet, and learned our history, culture, languages and customs. They knew the collective sum of all human knowledge and still they would not speak to us. Then they came down from the heavens and yet, more silence. The governments of the world did everything to contact them, from mathematical codes, to music to blinking lights and all the silly things that were done in the movies. None of it worked, the watchers watched from their ships and did nothing. In the days that followed UFOs were everywhere, even over the White House. The armies of the world were told to stand down while we waited on the aliens to show themselves. We did everything we could to avoid provoking hostilities. They did not.

One morning in October they withdrew their ships and disabled most electronic equipment worldwide. Within the first ten minutes they bombarded our cities, coastlines and military installations with meteors. Then came the bombers; the aliens sent ships down into our atmosphere and struck every major urban area with weapons analogous to neutron bombs. Riots broke out around the world and civilized people so rapidly devolved into beasts, trampling and clawing at each other to escape annihilation. Within one hour between 75-85% of the world's population had been eradicated. That wasn't the end of it. Within a few days the aliens landed herded us together and took most of the surviving population captive. We have since seen some of the children they took walking around with these wormlike parasites on their backs. What became of the adults no one knows. Through the past two months the fortunate ones who got away tried to fight back. Really I believe that the dead are the fortunate ones here. Only they have seen the end of this war.

Nov 23 2057 CST

Near Galveston, TX, United States

Inez and Melinda Vargas ran through the tall reeds onto the highway. It was as they expected, the bridge to Galveston Island had been taken out. Across the channel they saw faint blue lights glowing on towers connected to an expansive alien structure that covered much of the island. "That's where they've taken him." said Inez, the older of the two siblings who had just turned 17 in September. She was just under 5' 11" and slender and lithe but not fragile in appearance with long wavy thick black hair that went down to the center of her back, granted now it was quite frizzled from the humidity and spending weeks on the move. Her face was long and angular, with a sharp nose, smooth cheeks, light olive skin and piercing hazel eyes behind long feminine lashes. She was wearing tight fitting blue jeans, sequin studded dark red boots and a grey undershirt beneath a plain black leather jacket. She had an M4 carbine slung over her shoulder and a Colt revolver tucked inside her jacket. Melinda was the youngest child of the family at age 13. Just barely into puberty she looked like an overgrown child at 5' 5". She was of a more stocky build than her older sister but was not fat. She was still well proportioned for a child of her age. Her straight black hair was cut at shoulder length though it was starting to get rather uneven in places. She had a wide face a round nose and plump cheeks and was two or three shades darker brown than her sister. She wore a tattered Pierce the Veil band T-shirt and faded grey jeans over black combat boots and carried a silenced AR-15 for protection. Even before the invasion both girls had been taught how to shoot and were skilled marksmen in their own right. "Are you sure about this?" Melinda asked. "That's what the kid attached to the bug thing said. This is where they were taking all the children." Inez told her. "But, how are we going to get there? You know there are those things in the water." Melinda whined. "We'll find a way." Inez sighed. "I wish Dad was here." sniffled Melinda. She remembered what happened to her mother and started to think the same happened to her dad. "Mija, please don't cry now. Dad was stationed overseas at an army base in Korea. Remember what happened at Fort Bliss? I think he's got enough to deal with on his own." Inez said to her sister. "He's still out there. He's fighting the spiders; he's going to make them go away." Inez continued. She gave her a hug and the two of them walked away from the Island and got onto other adjoining highways which could lead to another bridge or a ferry. "We've got to be the ones that save Carlos, Mama's gone, Dad's overseas, it's up to us now. You're strong enough to do this mija." Inez encouraged her. They passed under a bridge and entered into an abandoned small coastal community. As they approached the intersection of two state highways a two legged robot walker confronted them, sprinting out from behind a convenience store and stopping directly in front of them. It was between 10 and 12 feet tall with bird-like legs and spindly arms connected to a central egg shaped body. One of the arms ended in a four fingered hand with long slender digits and the other capped into a boxed off chain gun of sorts. At the rear of the main body were two wing-like protrusions in the shape of the curved half of an axe head. The forward facing portion of the tops of these protrusions shone a bright spotlight down upon the two terrified girls. The machine did not fire upon them; rather it intended to hold them here until the spiders arrived to take them away. Neither did the girls fire upon the machine for experience had taught them that most gunfire didn't even scratch the surface of these things. Inez looked frantically around trying to find a way out. She couldn't let this be the end, not like this. She heard another sound, not the dull droning hum of the mech but the roar of a terrestrial diesel engine. A green 18 wheeler with a steel reinforced front bumper came thundering down the cross street and slammed straight into the mech with the force of a freight train. After dragging the mech about a quarter mile down the street the truck backed up and slowly pried the damaged machine out from underneath it leaving behind a sparking hulk of dented in metal with the gun arm dangling from wiry internal servos. The truck stopped in front of the girls and released its parking brakes. The name on the side of the truck read "Vasquez Trucking, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mex." The passenger door opened and a gruff, chubby bearded man backed away and sat back into the driver's seat. "Hop in. You need to get away from here before the spiders arrive." the man said to them in Spanish. "Thank you." Inez replied. She then helped her sister into the truck and climbed in after her. It used to be that she would never get into a strange vehicle with a creepy old guy but this was the way the world was now. There were bigger threats out there than what people could do to each other; by now most people had kind of got the message that they had to work together to survive. The assholes were some of the first to die. Nonetheless both of the girls had their guns and if this guy wasn't a genuine friend to them they knew how to use them. Inez shut the door and buckled her seat belt. The truck backed up some more and then turned west down the highway Inez and her sister were walking along.


	2. Chapter 2: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Chapter II: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Nov 24 0001 CST

Hitchcock, TX, United States

The truck continued heading west with Melinda in the rear bunk and Inez sitting in the passenger seat. "Where are you girls headed?" the driver asked. "Galveston." replied Inez. "Oh no, you don't want to go there. The cangrejos have turned that place into a circus. There's no way on or off that island." replied the driver. "Well we're going." Inez repeated. "Why you want to go there?" the driver asked. "Our reasons are our own." Inez coldly told him. "What's he saying?" asked Melinda from the back seat. She had spent her whole life in the US and her Spanish wasn't as good as her sisters who grew up with grandparents and uncles that only spoke Spanish. That was back when her mom still lived in Mexico before she married her father and moved to the 'States. "He was just asking where we are going." Inez told Melinda. "She no speak Spanish?" asked the driver. "No, she doesn't, no more than what I've taught her. Our father only spoke English at home, so she never picked it up. He had to learn English as a second language and wanted us to have it as our first, you know to better fit in and assimilate here." Inez explained. "Ah I see. Well I'm sorry but there is no road into Galveston." the driver said. "Then we'll have to swim." Inez said. She didn't know why she was arguing this with a stranger to begin with. "That wouldn't be a good idea either; the cangrejos have things in the water too. They're kind of like a kraken or something, I've seen them drag boats down and they never come back up. "We'll find a way ok." Inez started to sound frustrated. "Take us somewhere we can get across or let us out here." Inez demanded. "Ok, if that's what you want I won't stop you. I'm just some guy you know but I worry about people. There's not a lot of us left anymore." the driver said. "I'm sorry I got angry with you but we just really need to get to Galveston." Inez told the driver. "I'll take you down the Bluewater highway that's the shortest distance from the island to the shore. It's a long way around to get there though so make yourself comfortable.

They drove on in silence for another hour or so. The blue lights of a passing beamer shone overhead as it went out towards the ocean. For the most part the roads were empty; these were back roads, mainly farm to market roads and not the major highways that the alien ground forces were fond of using. The scenery here was plain, miles of open fields and sparse deserted homes and businesses between one small town to the next. The grasslands around them disguised the fact of just how close they actually were to the ocean. "Mr. Vasquez?" Inez spoke up, breaking the silence. "I'm not Mr. Vasquez, I used to work for him though." the driver corrected her. "You were saying?" he asked. "How come your truck didn't fold around that thing when you hit it?" asked Inez. "They're robots, not the incredible Hulk." joked the driver. "Nah, the bars in the front of my grill, you know the spikes on it, I made those out of the robots' skin. Found a few beat up ones over in Arkansas and melted them down and forged me some rig armor here. The stuff melts with the propane torch I used to use to cut off the bent rails from my trailer. Even made myself a skid plate underneath." the driver explained. "I see. That's impressive, so is the fact that you have a big truck that still runs." commented Inez. "Nah, that ain't impressive. This here is a '72, hardly any fancy electronic gizmos in here at all. There isn't even a tape deck, or an 8 track player." the driver joked. "What's a tape deck, or an 8 track?" asked Inez. "Oh you kids crack me up. It's like an mp3 in a box." the driver explained. "Like an iPod?" asked Inez. "Kind of except it only had 8 songs on it and you couldn't change them." the driver explained. "Man it would suck balls to grow up in the 70's." remarked Inez. The driver laughed out loud and shook his head. "I wouldn't know. I grew up in the 80s, it was all about hairspray and parachute pants back then." the driver said. "Those are starting to make a comeback in some places." commented Inez. The driver chuckled and carried on, focusing on what was ahead of them. They still were in the clear. "Funny thing is this truck wouldn't even be legal in the US it's so old. There were ways to get around it but still, and now I'm the only thing still running the highways out here." the driver remarked. "So you were in Mexico when everything went to shit?" asked Inez. "Home is in Mexico but nah, I was in Chicago when the world went to hell. The whole city was burning around me." the driver answered. "I'm sorry. They bombed us too." Inez said. "It wasn't the bombs that were the worst of it. They didn't burn Chicago down. No, no, no "They" did a lot of terrible things but "they" didn't do that. That was all us." the driver stated. "It's a small line that separates us from the animals. People aren't like how they used to be where you could leave your door unlocked and your neighbor wouldn't come in and kill your brother and rape your wife." the driver told Inez, clearly infusing something personal from his life into his worldview. "Every great power that has even fallen has first rotted from within before it is conquered from without. We've tossed the moral compass out the window a long time before you kids were born. What held it all together since then was comfort and force. What the aliens did was rid us of our comforts and knock down our ability to use force on each other or them. Take away a few little things from civilization, and so passes the glory of the world." the driver lamented.

"We are getting close to Brazoria now. From there we take the 36 to the Bluewater highway to the shore where I will drop you girls off." the driver informed the girls. "That is if you are still intent on going to Galveston? We can always turn north towards Houston and leave that ugly business on the island alone." the driver continued. "No, keep going." Inez told him. She looked back and saw her sister sleeping calmly in the back bunk. She had been through so much, it wasn't surprising she knocked out the moment she felt safe. Inez on the other hand had too much on her mind to even consider a nap. The desire to find her brother and free him before the aliens made him into a monster burned within her. She had already lost her friends, her mother, and probably her father as well, she wasn't going to lose her brother. The grasslands faded as they went into a wooded area, over a bridge and into a small town. Like everywhere else, this small town was dark; the only light came from the moon and stars until bright searchlights illuminated from a highway intersection several hundred yards in front of them. The driver shut off the truck's headlights and listened as the groaning sounds of alien mechs resounded from around the corner ahead of them. "Oh shit." he muttered to himself. Inez reached back and woke up her sister. "Whaaa.." she moaned in a weak and groggy voice. "Hush now mija. Keep your eyes on me, we might have to run." she whispered to Melinda. Inez turned around, unfastened her seatbelt and clutched her gun.


	3. Chapter 3: No Free Rides

Chapter III: No Free Rides

Nov 24 1100 CST

Brazoria, TX, United States

It didn't take long before it became apparent they had been spotted. The driver leaned buckled Inez up before he attempted to outrun the mechs converging from the adjacent roads. The truck sped between the two mechs who opened fire on the fleeing vehicle. Bullets tore through the back of the truck and shattered the windshield from within. Melinda fell onto the floor and screamed in terror. Due to the mech rounds breaking the windshield from the inside of the truck most of the shattered glass flew outwards away from Inez and the driver. Inez shielded her face from the glass slivers that fell back into the truck as it continued to barrel along the road away from the mechs. The mechs continued to fire, one round penetrated the driver's side fuel tank which began to rapidly leak out onto the road. "Little girl, can you get me that little cook stove underneath the bunk?" the driver asked Melinda as he watched his fuel level drop. Melinda reached underneath the bunk and fumbled around with various items before she found the gas powered portable stove the driver used to cook some of his meals with. Just as she was getting up to hand it to him the truck jolted causing her to fall back down to her knees. The mechs had blown out all the tires on the passenger side of the truck causing it to slide rapidly towards that side. The driver pushed on the brakes and took the stove out of Melinda's hands. "You girls get out, and run. Don't look back, just run for it!" the driver told them.

Inez took Melinda's hand and helped her out of the truck. When the mechs saw the adolescent girls they ceased firing and stood fast on the other side of an intersection in the distance. The girls ran around to the front of the truck as the driver exited with the cook stove and his shotgun in hand. A group of close to two dozen skitters came out of the streets and buildings behind the mechs and rushed towards the truck. "Run!" shouted the driver to the hesitant girls hunkering down in front of the truck. The driver placed the cook stove beneath the fuel tank where the leak had developed and took aim with his shotgun. As the skitters approached he fired upon them, taking two of them down with multiple rounds to the head and chest before he had to reload. After reloading the driver opened fire again, hitting the closest skitter in the left shoulder, slowing it only for a moment as it twisted from the impact. The driver continued firing, using 3 rounds to bring the skitter down only a few yards away from the truck. His next shot missed completely allowing the next group of skitters to close in. He shot out the front legs of two of the lead skitters before he had to reload again. Inez managed to work up her and Melinda's confidence enough now to convince them to bolt from their hiding place and into a broad field of tall grass behind a row of buildings facing the highway. Seeing the girls flee and the skitters closing in, the driver diverted his fire to take down a skitter that had broken away to chase the girls and then took out a long grill lighter and lit the cook stove. The skitters had now reached the truck and pounced upon the driver as the flames began to spread. The driver fired up into the abdomen of a skitter that had knocked him to the ground. The impact from the fall rattled the driver's head as it struck the black top road. Heat from the flames radiated off his skin and spread along the trail of diesel fuel leading back towards the mechs. The flames had little effect on the skitters; they just kept coming and swarmed over the truck like ants over a piece of discarded food. Another skitter ripped the gun from his hands and then proceeded to tear the driver's right arm out of his shoulder socket. The wounded skitter on top of him then reached for the driver's neck and squeezed just as the flames managed to ignite the bulk of the truck's fuel and trigger an explosion which consumed the truck and most of the skitters swarming all over it.

The flames spread into the field behind the girls after the explosion. Melinda looked back but Inez yanked her hand to keep her running. A burning skitter ran into the field after them, setting a greater portion of the tall grass alight in its path before the flames on the skitter's fire resistant shell had burned out. Inez turned around, backpedaling to keep up with Melinda as she opened fire on their pursuer, slaying it with unnecessarily large number of rounds to center mass. Inez tripped over a rock and tumbled over into the dirt, with tall grass surrounding her, towering over her head now. Melinda stopped and helped her older sister get up. Inez shook off the excess dirt and looked back only for a second. The blaze engulfed the truck like a bonfire with the mech's searchlights still focused on it and the skitters, both living and deceased surrounding it. An expanding wall of flame had spread onto the dry grass between the girls and the trucks sending embers up like fireflies into the night air. For the moment the aliens had abandoned their pursuit of the girls. This allowed the two of them to sprint off to the south and out of their clutches for now.

Winded and exhausted the two girls once again returned to a highway south of town. Based on what the driver had told them on the ride over they knew where they were going from here. The signage they saw as they proceeded confirmed their belief. Thankfully the skitters had abandoned pursuit and for the moment it seemed Inez and Melinda were in the clear. They had no idea how far Galveston would be from here and the two of them were worn out from not only from their recent race to safety but from a long two weeks of chasing down the aliens that took their brother with little rest along the way. The toll they had placed upon their young bodies had now caught up to them and they needed rest, but where could they bed down for a few hours without being noticed. They were out in the open with little more than sparse woods to shield them from the alien flyovers and the alien patrols that undoubtedly made their rounds up and down this highway from the coast out into the hinterlands between Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The next town was eleven miles away based on the last sign they saw, so maybe two or three hours at a brisk walk, more than likely four hours given how much Melinda had been complaining about her feet hurting since they stopped running. She probably needed new shoes thought Inez; she also wasn't in the best of shape when the invasion happened either. Inez wasn't exactly an athlete herself, she played soccer and would occasionally get into the shooting sports and archery with her dad back when he lived with them but ever since the divorce she had mainly spent her free time reading, watching sappy television or perusing the latest memes online. "Prison Area Ahead - Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates." read a sign in front of the girls on their southward trek. "Once we find this prison we can stop for the night if you need to." suggested Inez who noticed Melinda slowing down due to the discomfort with her feet. "Is that safe?" asked Melinda. "Yeah mija, it's not exactly the Four Seasons but it's secure. There will be high walls, barbed wire; it'll be harder for the spiders to get to us than if we were out in the open." Inez explained. "I mean from the prisoners. This isn't exactly the Walking Dead you know." Melinda sarcastically clarified her statement. "The state probably moved all the prisoners out of there when the invasion started. I doubt anyone is still left inside." Inez reassured her. The truth was she didn't know. They had guns, and same as with the truck driver, if anyone left in there displayed as much as the slightest inkling of threatening behavior towards the her or her sister Inez would not hesitate to blow their brains out.

It wasn't too long until they came to the prison which the sign had warned them about. It was a state prison farm used primarily to house violent juvenile offenders many of whom had been tried and convicted as adults. An outer fence of barbed wire surrounded the prison and adjacent plantation which the inmates would work as forced labor during their prison term. Guard towers stood at the corners of the fence and along the prison walls themselves. A secondary fence surrounded the prison itself and the walkways between the outer wall and the buildings within the complex. There was no sign of the white prison buses indicating that an evacuation had indeed taken place, or so Inez and Melinda hoped. Several disabled police cars were abandoned alongside the road along with a few dead skitters and humans. Some of the cars had holes punched through them by mech rounds and dented in side panels from earthly weapons fire. The northwest corner of the prison itself had collapsed; most likely the result on an alien airstrike and a helicopter had crashed on the front lawn. Around the helicopter crash the fences had been brought down and the front gate had been torn open which allowed the girls access. All they had to do was climb over a few dead bodies and they would be inside. Here they were at their lodging for the night. Although it appeared grim and imposing, it scared them less than the monsters which were looking for them outside.


	4. Chapter 4: Hiding Behind Bars

Chapter IV: Hiding Behind Bars

24 Nov 0214 CST

South of Brazoria, TX, United States

Inez and Melinda stealthily snuck through the front door of the prison. Inez took out a flashlight from her bag and closed the door behind her and her sister before she turned on the light. It was pitch black in here with few windows to allow in the ambient moonlight from outside. The entryway was littered with debris along with the bodies of three dead guards and one skitter. Inez handed the flashlight to her sister and steadied her gun with both hands. "Keep it in front of us." Inez told her. They went down the hall and through a battered down wooden door. The office area was a mess, with papers strewn everywhere, computers and filing cabinets lying across the floor and bullet holes through the walls and the desks. Down the hall the breakroom, guards' locker room, armory and surveillance office looked like a war zone. It seems the guards along with several members of the Texas and Louisiana National Guard had perished here fighting off an attack by many skitters. Inez took a couple of tear gas canisters in case they needed them in the future before she left for another part of the prison. The visitation area wasn't any better either. A couple dead skitters were spread out by the door and one of the Plexiglas windows between the two sides of the visitation booths was split open. This wasn't a comforting sight, perhaps Inez thought, the prison cells themselves would be the safest place for them to stay. "Are you sure we'll be safe in there?" asked Melinda as Inez forced open the door into the outer cell blocks. "Yeah. We just have to make sure no one is inside first." Inez told her. "Come on, stay close and keep the light ahead of me." Inez instructed her sister. They entered into the outer halls and made their way towards one of the cell blocks. "They built this place to keep people from getting out. It should be just as effective at keeping aliens from getting in." Inez comforted Melinda. There were no dead aliens in here, that was a positive sign. When they entered into the cell block an atrocious stench overcame them. "What is that horrible. . . oh my!" Melinda began to ask before she staggered back, aghast at what she saw. Inside the cells were the rotting corpses of many prisoners who had died from thirst some time ago. Inez put her arm around Melinda and refocused her light away from the corpses down the middle of the cell block. "They must have left them here when the prison was evacuated." Inez stated. Melinda couldn't keep the light steady so Inez took back the flashlight from her and quickly scanned all the cells to make sure any of them weren't open to warrant further investigation. Melinda backed into Inez and clung tightly to her older sister as they walked down the hall amidst the foul odor that saturated the area. "I know these people must have done something to deserve being locked in here but that is no way to die." Melinda said horrified by what it must have been like to waste away in such a slow, torturous manner.

The girls left the cell block and sealed it and its foul fragrance off once again. They examined another cell block and found much of the same thing, a de facto death row filled with putrid bodies and the dreadful stench of death. The quickly exited and went on to explore other parts of the prison. "I wonder why the backup generators didn't come on when the power went out?" Inez thought out loud. They continued to search finding other wards less populated and foul but still with the grim reminder of death present. "I can't sleep around that." Melinda said. "Me either, I would throw up if I was in there much longer. If we have to we'll sleep in the hall." Inez replied. "You suppose this place is haunted now?" asked Melinda. "Don't be silly, ghosts aren't real." Inez answered. "But what about those people that died in there? You're not scared?" Melinda asked. "Nah, it's gross but not scary. Those people have all gone to heaven now, or hell." Inez replied. "I suppose so." Melinda said. Melinda was still terrified, though she didn't know if it was the thought of ghosts or aliens that scared her the most. Either way the concrete and steel walls of the prison did not seem to offer any real sense of safety for her and her sister.

They finally reached an area of the prison where it seemed that the evacuation had gone as scheduled. The cells were all open and emptied. "These might be our accommodations for the night." Inez said. She started going down the line shining a light into each cell and checking to make sure it was empty. As exhausted as she was Inez couldn't let herself or her sister rest until they were sure there were no aliens or human brigands here for them to worry about. She checked five cells all of which were clear, so far, so good. In the darkness to her right she heard a gun cock. She began to turn towards the noise but was warned not to. "That's far enough." a male voice threatened her from the darkness. "You talk so loud the cooties could hear you from a mile down the road." the voice continued. "If you have any weapons place them on the ground and back away." the voice instructed them. Inez couldn't see their assailant and assumed he couldn't see them either so she turned off her flashlight, took Melinda's weapon and laid it down on the floor in front of them and backed away. Melinda wouldn't be able to use it anyway. She was always too frightened to pull the trigger.

Now to see if her assumption was correct. After the sound of Melinda's gun touching the cold concrete floor sparks from a lighter flicked several times before it sustained a flame a distance of about seven cells away from Melinda and Inez. A shadowy figure lit a kerosene lantern and held it aloft to reveal Inez with her rifle pointed in his general direction. Once the two of them had each other in their sight the man pointed his Colt revolver at Inez at the same time Inez trained her weapon upon him. "You're not going to rob us." Inez sternly told the man, a scrawny African-American teen with short, unkempt hair. "I wasn't going to rob you. I thought you were going to hurt me." the boy told her. "I'm not going to hurt anyone, unless you're one of those alien kids." Inez told him. She slipped Melinda the flashlight and her little sister shined it onto the soiled red and white striped sweatshirt the boy was wearing. "I'm not strapped if that's what you mean." the boy replied. "Show me. I promise I won't shoot you." Inez told him. The boy didn't want to shoot anyone, not after the last time, so he took the risk of trusting Inez. He slowly turned around to show Inez that his back was clean, all the while praying silently that she wouldn't shoot him. "See, not strapped, just like I said." the boy said as he turned back around. "What are you doing in here? Were you an inmate here?" Inez asked. "I could ask you the same thing, what are you doing snooping around a prison at night?" the boy asked in response as he refocused his weapon towards Inez. "I asked first." Inez demanded. "My folks and I were running away from the cooties. The group we were with fell into an ambush outside of Lake Charles. I was the only one to get out of there. The adults they killed and the kids were taken away to get strapped. I kept running and running til I got here. I thought I could hide out for a while but I was going to have to start running again real soon." the boy stammered out an explanation. Sounded like a reasonable enough story Inez thought. "We were just looking for a place to rest for the night. That is all. We don't want to be a bother but we can't have you causing any trouble either." Inez told him. The whole time Melinda remained silent, paralyzed with fear now coming upon her from three lines of reasoning. A distant wailing groan from a passing mech silenced both Inez and the boy. Everyone froze up and listened to the footsteps of the mech, waiting for it to move on. It was likely just on patrol along the highway and not looking for them. So long as they didn't give it a reason it should leave them alone.

When the mech had departed without incident Inez and the boy resumed their standoff. "Listen, it's cool if you stay. I'll keep out of the way, honest." the boy told her. "What about you, how do I know that you won't stab us in our sleep?" asked Inez in a hostile tone. "Stab you with what? My finger?" the boy sarcastically asked in response. "No, really I won't mess with you at all. It would be nice to have more people around in case the cooties find their way inside." the boy told her. Since when did she stop trusting people? Since the aliens came that's when, Inez answered her own question. She couldn't blame herself though, ever since El Paso fell nearly every encounter she had began with a gun in her face. She could end this situation once and for all with a bullet through the chest of this kid and the next day she would think nothing of it. After she had shot that would be rapist in the desert she had begun to become desensitized to it. Inez had taken many lives on their journey across the state. It wasn't just aliens either; whether it was thieves, strapped kids or others where she was just too frightened to give them a chance, she had to put down several humans as well. Melinda on the other hand was different; she had still hung on to something from the world before. She was hesitant to harm her own kind. The aliens were monsters. She had no qualms about fighting back against them but when it came to humans that was different. Melinda still felt for people, good or bad. She was young and didn't quite understand the world the same way that Inez did. That kind of blind idealism, the remnants of better days, did not serve them well in this world that they lived in. The same look she saw in Melinda when she couldn't stand to take a human life, having to leave the dirty work to her sister, was the look that the boy staring her down had. He wasn't much older than her little sister, young and cast into the cold cruel world. He was trembling, unable to keep his gun steady as he pointed it towards Inez. He didn't have it in him to shoot her; he couldn't do it even if he had too. This kid was weak, Inez thought, and this gave her the upper hand.

"Give me your gun." Inez demanded. "What?" asked the boy, astonished by Inez's audacity. "There's two of us and one of you." Inez said as she motioned for Melinda to retrieve her weapon all the while making threatening gestures towards to boy to deter any hostile action on his part. "You can't shoot both of us before we take you down. Now I could either shoot you right here and now or you can hand over your gun. Either way I will sleep well tonight." Inez threatened the boy. The boy knelt down and dropped his gun on the floor. "Now come here and get in the cell next to me." Inez said. She couldn't know if the boy had any more weapons stashed in the cell he was in so he had to be in one that she had thoroughly inspected. Inez backed up and away from the boy as he walked into the cell and sat down. She shut the cell door behind him. The hinges creaked as it closed. She didn't have the key to lock the cell but she had an alternative solution for that. While she kept her weapon trained on the boy she dug around in Melinda's bag and pulled out her combination lock and bike chain. They hadn't had a bike between the two of them for some time since they left El Paso. They had traded them to man in Del Rio for a few grenades so that they would have something they could use against the mechs. The chain however was useful in making it harder for people and skitters to get into places they were hiding and in this instance would keep the cell door closed. "So now that I let you lock me away do you feel better?" the boy asked. "I don't mean to be rude but we've been burned too many times to trust someone we've just met out here. We'll let you out before we leave in the morning." Inez told him. "I'll hold you to that." the boy replied. "Go ahead." Inez replied. She and Melinda checked out the rest of the cells and found one that was to their liking directly across from the boy's for the night. Melinda crawled into bed and Inez stood guard. Melinda wouldn't sleep unless she thought her sister was standing guard over her. Inez would lay down once her little sister was safely in the arms of Morpheus. "So kid, what's your name? Melinda asked. "Chase." replied the boy. "So Chase, I don't think you're a bad kid or anything. We're just doing what we have to do. If it means anything to you, I hope you get through all this mess going on with the world alive." Melinda told him.


	5. Chapter 5: Under Western Skies

Chapter V: Under Western Skies

24 Nov 0717 MST

Saint George, Utah, United States

The sunlight peeked between the mountaintops as dawn broke over the quiet town near the convergence of Nevada, Utah and Arizona. A light frost covered the ground and icicles hung from some of the lamp posts. The ice would be melted in a few hours after direct sunlight cast away all the shadows that shrouded the town at the present moment. The winters here were typically mild but this year the additional dust in the upper atmosphere resulting from the alien bombardment had actually started to push the temperatures below freezing for several nights now. The town looked abandoned with the exception of a trio of men gathered around a smoldering trash barrel on the ridge overlooking the state's port of entry facilities on Interstate 15. A contingent of survivors had made this community home for the past eleven days. The survivors arrived to find a ghost town here after fleeing from the aliens from as far away as the California coast. Two of the sentries were equipped with bolt action rifles equipped with high grade optics and the third carried a colt revolver and a pair of binoculars. A mortar tube was also placed up against the rocks for use against any mechs and skitters that would be approaching them from out of the canyon to the southwest. Another guard was on duty inside a house to the northwest while a third group of sentries kept watch over the approach from the highway to the northeast. The rest of the group was just getting out of bed as beams of sunlight began to strike the rooftops of the homes they had commandeered.

The town had served them well during the time they had been here. Its natural barriers provided a secure position against attack while the homes and small shops had been well stocked with canned and dry goods to sustain them. It was Utah, and hoarding for emergencies was a common trait among both the Mormons and small town folk that inhabited the town before they came; granted they had hoarded for bad weather and more terrestrial problems. Where these townsfolk had gone and why they left all their goods behind remained a mystery however. The town appeared to have suffered no damage and indeed there were no signs of a fight here when the survivors from the west had arrived; everything was left in perfect order as it would have been on any other day. It was a peculiar happening that at first left fear in those who took up residence here. After the days went on the survivors nerves became more at ease; they hadn't seen any alien ground forces pass through the area at all. There were a couple of flyovers but nothing wore. The small quiet nature of the town and minimal signs of activity made it look unattractive from above as the flyers were most likely on their way to the major cities on the west coast where it was believed that the aliens held absolute dominion.

Brittany Bremer emerged from one of the quaint little houses in the neighborhood behind where the sentries were standing. Brittany had witnessed the destruction in Los Angeles as she made her way around the hills overlooking the valley. Social unrest had weakened the city and sparked a devastating fire that had gone so far as to keep the alien ground forces from entering the L.A. basin for a week after they had touched down all over the world. She had been fortunate enough to flee from her and her husband's home in Burbank before the flames had spread and encompass the area. Fortune smiled on her again as she and her companions managed to reach Barstow minutes before the aliens landed and set up a perimeter around all of the passes surrounding the L.A. metro area and began snagging refugees as they attempted to escape.

Today, life wasn't as chaotic. Brittany looked around the empty streets finding herself to be the early riser in the group. Her right arm was in a sling, the result of an injury sustained in her long retreat from Los Angeles. She held her injured arm over here DD sized breasts concealing the fact that her pert nipples were poking out against her thin white sweater even through her bra as a result of the frigid wind whipping through the town streets. Hidden within her arm cast was a well done tattoo on her forearm of a dagger and a pair of roses. She had voluminous wavy natural golden blonde hair down to the middle of her back. It still looked clean and luxurious, even after almost two months in the rough since the aliens ended her modern existence. Like her husband, the 28 year old woman was in excellent physical condition and appeared between 5 to 10 years younger than she was. She could have easily been a fitness model with her firm thighs and arms, smooth abs and toned hips and posterior which rested snugly in her well-worn jeans. Being the alluring vixen she was she had a habit of turning the heads of the men in camp with her. Even the teenage boys among them had their own fantasies about what it must be like to hook up with her. Unlike her husband she wasn't easily won over by their sweet talk and was mostly faithful to the vow she made to him, even in spite of the fact he was probably a charred skeleton at the bottom of a crater overseas where some army base had once stood. That was always the risk she took when she married a career Army man. It didn't matter to her though, they had the times they had together and that was good enough. She understood she would never see him again, dead or alive. Even so it was better that she didn't get involved with anyone new. It would only complicate things. She made friends with her colleagues and nothing more.

While savagery had been the norm throughout the early weeks of the invasion the men of the encampment respected her. It also helped that she had a powerful advocate. Seth Barrett, a former Navy SEAL and close friend of her husband, was an intimidating man though he was truly quite kind and he stuck up for Brittany when the others had gotten a little unruly in the past. After getting out of the military Seth had worked private security both in Hollywood and the corporate world for clients he still refused to disclose the identity of. Seth was with his two children, Allison, age 18 and Trevor, age 11, at Disneyland when the chaos had erupted following the bombardment. Having lost his wife of 17 years during the bombardment he soon found Brittany while leading his children through the mountains out of the city. At 42 years old he hadn't a single gray hair on his head and only a couple flecks of silver in his beard now that it had a chance to grow out while on the run from the aliens. Seth stood a few inches below Brittany's 6' 4" and while he was in great shape did not appear particularly menacing. It was more of the way he carried himself and the confidence he exuded that commanded respect from the other members. In spite of this he wasn't the de facto leader of the group; that role belonged to Arturo Ortega, formerly a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy. Seth was the lead strategist and served in as an advisor and moral support to Arturo. Although older he was also one of their best, if not the best fighter they had.

While they were close, the Barretts were staying in the house next door to Brittany. Her own house mate, Kelly Jung, was inside preparing breakfast for both of them in the kitchen. Kelly was the drama teacher in the school where Brittany taught Advanced Calculus. She had a son who was taken by the aliens when they were ambushed in Las Vegas, something she still refused to talk to Brittany about. She was a few years older than Brittany, a foot shorter and slightly overweight with evenly trimmed shoulder length black hair. She wore thick glasses and was clad in a loose fitting gray hoodie and sweatpants. Despite her homely appearance, Kelly could fight and carried a Smith and Wesson on her person at all times. She was more of a jack of all trades to the group than a fighter though. She was their best cook, was able to mend their clothes, knew her way around an automobile enough to maintain the handful of vehicles the group had with them and also knew a bit of first aid that came in handy when their doctor was in disposed.

Speaking of the group's Doctor, Brittany soon noticed him carrying a bag of trash out of the clinic that he had set up in. Henry Patel waved to Brittany as he tossed the bag into the dumpster. It wasn't as if anyone still picked up the trash though it was best to keep it away from the living spaces to stave off disease. While Dr. Patel's specialty was dermatology, he was still an accomplished doctor in all areas of medicine, having run a family practice for five years before he decided to specialize in order to make more money. He was always a career focused individual with no wife or children to mourn over. He rarely even spoke of his parents back in Pakistan so it had appeared that the end of the world had emotionally affected him the least. After being here for going on two weeks now Dr. Patel had managed to catch up on treating the injuries the group had sustained during their engagement in Vegas. It was nice for him to have a break but he was the type that had to be doing something at all times or he would become terribly bored. Just a kid with a case of the sniffles would be welcomed by the doctor at this time. Having no such maladies in camp at this time Dr. Patel went back inside his clinic to lounge around until his services were needed.

Among the other survivors who had journeyed with Brittany and her friends and now resided along this very street was Ashley Ryder, a cocktail waitress from the Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas and her friends Bianca and Baileigh. They lived in the house across the street. Two houses down from them lived Craig Atlas a former Greyhound bus driver and his wife Aisha, and yes Atlas was his real last name. Along with Doctor Patel, Bradley Kettering, a paramedic out of Bakersfield and Francisco DiAngelo, a pharmacist from Bullhead City, Arizona stayed with him in the clinic. One of the other houses between the clinic and Brittany's also housed a couple of college students, Mark and Haruka. Brittany recognized one of the sentries with the rifles as Andrew Connor, a rancher from near Mesquite Nevada, and the man with the binoculars as Charlie Fisher, a UFO enthusiast and conspiracy theorist who was camped out near Rachel, Nevada when the attack began. In total there were 62 people who called St. George their home for the past eleven days.

Brittany walked back inside and went to go see what her roommate was up to.

"What are you making?" asked Brittany.

"Scrambled eggs." replied Kelly as she cooked a skillet full of eggs over a fire she had kindled in a steel pail placed in the sink.

"Where did you find eggs? I thought they would have all gone rotten by now." inquired Brittany.

"From the chickens outside of the farmhouse on the east side of town; they're still laying them you know." Kelly replied.

"Oh right. Silly me." Brittany laughed at how easily the two city girls had forgotten such a simple fact.

All the sudden there was a commotion outside that drew Brittany's attention to the window. She watched two of the sentries wander off towards down the hill towards the highway while Kelly continued to cook their breakfast.

On the highway Connor and Fisher met with two men on horseback riding up from the south. The two men were their scouts, Devon Anderson, a stout young African American man who had worked as Connor's ranch hand and Sean Thompkins, a Nevada State Trooper wielding a shotgun. Thompkins was in his badly soiled uniform that had last been washed five days ago and Anderson was dressed in cleaner, yet rugged cowboy attire, complete with the hat and a pair of pistols holstered openly on both sides of his waist.

"You folks seem a little nervous, what have you to report?" asked Connor as the two men rode up.

"We've got a column of crawlers coming through the canyon; three dozen, maybe more." reported Anderson.

"Any bots?" asked Connor.

"Nope, none that we could see." Anderson replied.

"Go wake everyone, tell them to be packed and ready to go." Connor instructed Anderson, sending him galloping off to town.

"How far behind you were they?" Connor asked Thompkins.

"Not far. I'd give them ten or fifteen minutes before they arrive assuming they didn't stop along the way." replied Thompkins.

"Dammit! That doesn't give us long enough to skip town." Connor replied letting out a low groan afterwards.

"Alright fine. Go help out Anderson wake the town and I'll get with Ortega. Maybe we can just lay low and they'll pass over us." Connor instructed Thompkins.

"Don't be so sure of that buddy. We've got kids with us so we best be prepared to fight." Thompkins warned Connor before riding away.

"Put that fire out and get inside that first house overlooking the ridge. I'll join you after I get with Ortega." Connor turned and shouted towards the remaining sentry on the ridge above him. He and Fisher then ran up the hillside and went towards Ortega's house. Thompkins was probably right, the aliens weren't going to simply pass them by if they detected their children among them and given the time they had to prepare there would be no flight from this place without its residents putting up a fight to slow the aliens down.

 _Author's Note: I'm trying out a new style of dialogue with this chapter. If it's preferable to read like this I can go back and (eventually) apply it to previous chapters, if not I can always go back to writing in block prose. Any input is appreciated, let me know what you think._


End file.
